[throwaway_391]

Seems silly to care so much about your tethered connection when the average home network has a bunch of computers, random IOT kit, a end-of-lifed smart TV, friends mobile devices and the random MAC addresses in your DHCP lease pool that you can't even account for.

Network security is unmaintaniable. Start caring about defensible boundaries instead.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

To some extent, sure; seriously, you should be okay exposing your laptop to an attacker-controlled hotspot. I'm actually pretty sure my machines would be fine exposed like that. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't minimize that exposure if possible:)

Also, I really do question the premise; it is possible to be selective with what you let on your network. You shouldn't rely on it, of course, but again, better to minimize exposure.